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Events Wed Jan 22 2014
First Up at the Cliff Dwellers Book Club: The Cliff-Dwellers
The Society of Midland Authors has made something of a specialty of celebrating lesser-known corners of the Midwest's literary heritage, and with the new Cliff Dwellers Book Club series, they open up a few more--not least of which is the penthouse digs of The Cliff Dwellers (200 S. Michigan), where meetings will be held. Since 1907, the private club has been an aerie above the city for makers and supporters of literature and the arts.
Only natural, then, that the first meeting--slated for Saturday, January 25, from 11am to 2pm--will focus on William Blake Fuller's 1893 novel The Cliff-Dwellers. Fuller did not find the cliffs and canyons of Chicago's ever-busier streets particularly hospitable, and in the book he catalogues the inhabitants of one particular skyscraper with a sardonic eye.
The novel, being in the public domain, is available for free on Google Books if you don't have a copy lying around. But if you miss this meeting, you'll have other chances: the club's set to meet monthly, with upcoming reads from the likes of Ring Lardner and Richard Babcock; selected authors who are still living will be invited to attend. Throughout the series, Cliff Dwellers member Richard Reeder will keep the discussion rolling. Attendees may reserve a spot by emailing reservations@cliff-chicago.org.
